is a retired Japanese professional wrestler, perhaps most famous for competing for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and

Hustle Hustle or The Hustle may refer to: Film * ''Hustle'' (1975 film), an American crime film starring Burt Reynolds * ''Hustle'' (2004 film), an American television film about Pete Rose * ''Hustle'' (2008 film), a film starring Bai Ling * ''The H ...

. Throughout Nagao's career, he would compete mainly on the mid-card.

Personal life

Hiroshi has a background in sports. During his time in school, Hiroshi would play volleyball and basketball due to his tall frame and interests. Hiroshi is a fan of professional wrestling. He looked up to former NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion

Giant Baba , best known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter, and professional baseball player. He is best known as a co-founder of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), a promotion he founded in 1972 along with Mitsuo Momota ...

who is his favourite wrestler who inspired him to

wrestle Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spor ...

. This is also the reason why he used the ring name "Giant Vabo".

Professional wrestling career

New Japan Pro Wrestling (2003–2006)

Hiroshi trained under the NJPW

Dojo A is a hall or place for immersive learning or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts, but has been seen increasingly in other fields, such as meditation and software development. The term literally means "place of the ...

in Japan as a "Young Lion". He was noticed by NJPW because of his size. He was postponed to his debut twice due to injuries. Nagao made his professional debut in February 2003 for NJPW. He would star by forming the "

Makai Club Makai (born 27 August 1973, stylized as MAKAI) is a Japanese house DJ. He is well known for his collaborations with Japanese vocalists, such as "Garden of Love" with Thelma Aoyama is a Japanese pop and R&B singer. She is part Afro-Trinid ...

" which was a stable that included Hiroshi, named "Makai X" alongside leader Tadao Yasuda and the other Makais. In 2005, Nagao competed in the

Young Lion cup __NOTOC__ The is an infrequent professional wrestling tournament promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as a means of showcasing the younger talent on their roster. The tournament is the successor to the Karl Gotch Cup that NJPW promoted in t ...

, but was unsuccessful. He was eliminated in the semi-finals by

Akiya Anzawa Akiya Anzawa (Born 9 January 1981) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. Anzawa would spend his entire professional wrestling career, competing for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) on mainly the mid-card. Akiya is the brother of professiona ...

. He then competed in the IWGP U-30 Openweight Title League. However for Hiroshi, he did not score enough points in the league. Hiroshi lost his last match in NJPW to Ryushi Yanagisawa.

Hustle (2006–2008)

After NJPW, Hiroshi made an appearance for All Japan Pro wrestling and occasional appearances for various shows in Japan such as

Riki Pro Fighting of World Japan Pro-Wrestling, frequently shortened to World Japan or WJ was a professional wrestling promotion formed in Japan in 2002 by former New Japan Pro-Wrestling employees Riki Choshu and Katsuji Nagashima, who also served as chairm ...

and Pro Wrestling Zero1. He would sign a deal with Hustle which was the main wrestling promotion that Hiroshi would compete for. He debuted there as a member of Generalissimo Takada's Takada Monster Army. Hiroshi adopted a volleyball

gimmick A gimmick is a novel device or idea designed primarily to attract attention or increase appeal, often with little intrinsic value. When applied to retail marketing, it is a unique or quirky feature designed to make a product or service "stand ou ...

where he would make his entrance wearing a volleyball attire and carry a net of

volleyballs A volleyball is a ball used to play indoor volleyball, beach volleyball, or other less common variations of the sport. Volleyballs are round and traditionally consist of eighteen nearly rectangular panels of synthetic or genuine leather, arranged ...

, under the ring name "Giant Vabo" (parodying

and a misspelling of volleyball). He formed a tag team with Giant Silva. He was later expelled from the Monster Army, after which he changed his ring name to "Nagao Ginga" and his gimmick to a gymnast, teaming up with Ginga Iketani. Towards the end of Hiroshi's career, he would compete in the Hustle Grand Prix, which is a knock-out system. In the first round, Hiroshi defeated Commander An Jo but would be defeated in the second round by Bono-chan on

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

. On October 26, 2008, Hiroshi Nagao announced his retirement from competing in professional wrestling. Nagao's last match was against Zeus on a Hustle show, in a losing effort.

In other media

Nagao is a playable character in the video game titled "King Of Colosseum II" created by Spike for

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

in 2004.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 0-1 , Ryuta Noji , KO (knee) , Deep - 50th Impact , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:33 , Tokyo,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagao, Hiroshi 1979 births Living people Japanese male professional wrestlers Sportspeople from Osaka